Congrats on finishing GF1!

Originally Posted by: nikki.macor

1. Trouble with smooth upstroke with pick - I can strum down/up with my fingers fine, but when I try to use the pick I get stuck. I could do with some additional advice or a good tutorial on this skill.[/quote][p]

Thanks to ddiddler for the good advice! A lighter pick can help, but it's possible to do with a medium or thick pick. 3 points:

1. Don't dig in too far. You want to lightly graze over the strings. The more you dig the tip of the pick below the plane of the strings the more likely it will get caught.

2. Angle the pick so it's not parallel to the strings. 45 degree angle is pretty optimal, but not totally necessary. Just enough to get that light graze happening.

3. It can also help to tilt the pick away from the direction of the strum. This requires you adjust your wrist for each downstrum versus upstrum, but can be very beneficial to work on. I demonstrate in this lesson.

https://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=13957

Originally Posted by: nikki.macor2. Picking with fingers only - I'd like to learn to play with either pick or fingers, but I find it very difficult to pick strings efficiently with only my fingers rather than using the pick. Again, some specific advice or a video to follow would be appreciated.

Anders has an intro finger picking in the acoustic course.

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=2480

Lisa has an intro to finger picking here.

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=596

[quote=nikki.macor]Finally, I often see references in guitar tabs to 'Strum pattern X' (eg 'Strum pattern 9'). What does this mean and is there a standard set of numbered strum patterns somewhere?

There is no industry standard list. Typically this is indicated somehow with reference to the a specific song. For example it's explicitly drawn or shown in one measure of the sheet music, then referred to throughout the rest of the tune.

There is a "basic strum" that I've seen a lot of acoustic guitar players refer to & use as a basic approach to a lot of tunes. Anders covers it here.

https://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=28972&s_id=2454

Hope that helps!